Whilst birding the Abha area recently we went to Azeeza to look for Blandford’s Short-toed Larks as birds had been seen here by us in previous years. The area has had some building and construction work done in the last couple of years and despite quite extensive searching we failed to find any birds.
Very little occurs in this relatively barren and stony area, with Long-billed Pipit and Common Kestrel the only birds of note seen. Luckily we found a new site for Blandford’s Lark (see earlier post) so were not so disappointed with our failure. After this we went to look for Olive Pigeon in a step sided valley where birds had been seen some years previously by local birders but again our luck was out.
We did see some good birds here including Arabian Woodpecker and Arabian Serin. Other good birds included Dusky Turtle Dove and adult and Juvenile Red-rumped Swallow that clearly breed nearby.
Jem Babbington
Jem Babbington is a keen birder and amateur photographer located in Dhahran, Eastern Saudi Arabia where he goes birding every day. Jem was born in England and is a serious local patch and local area birder who has been birding for almost forty years and has birded in more than fifty countries. Jem is learning to ring birds in Bahrain as a perfect way to learn more about the birds of the area. Saudi Arabia is a very much under-watched and under-recorded country.
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